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Environmental protection – requirements for recreational boaties

Marine pollution law requires that we respect and care for the marine environment. This means disposing of all waste correctly.
Environmental risks and regulations
Waste disposal from small craft
Report all oil spills
Protect the environment - key points for boat owners
Key points when refuelling
Marine biosecurity and marine pests

Environmental risks and regulations

Even small amounts of fuel and oil in the water can be fatal to birds and marine life. Diesel and petrol are particularly toxic, but lubricant and hydraulic oils are also very harmful to the marine environment.

Most spills in the recreational boating sector result from careless refuelling or pumping oily bilge water overboard.

The environmental protection requirements that recreational boaties and other vessel operators need to follow are set out in the Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Regulations 1998.

Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Regulations 1998 [New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office]

Waste disposal from small craft

Plastics are not permitted to be discharged overboard.

Oil is not permitted to be discharged overboard.

Oily water is only permitted to be discharged overboard if it contains less than 15 parts of oil per million parts of water. Use an oil absorbent cloth to filter out the oil.

Food waste is required to be reduced to a size less than 25 millimetres and is only permitted to be discharged overboard when you are more than three miles from shore.

Untreated sewage is only permitted to be discharged overboard if you are in water deeper than 5m and:

• more than 500m from land
• more than 500m from a marine farm
• more than 500m from a mataitai reserve (a customary seafood gathering area)
• more than 200m from a marine reserve.

Treated sewage is only permitted to be discharged overboard if you are more than 500m from a marine farm or mataitai reserve.

Waste disposal from small craft sticker [PDF: 34Kb, 1 page]

You can request this sticker from Maritime New Zealand. Please include your postal address details.
Email Maritime New Zealand publications 

Report all oil spills

You should report all oil spills to your regional council. The sooner the council is aware of an oil spill the better the chance there is of minimising damage to the environment.

Get contact details for your local council [Local Government Online]

Protect the environment - key points for boat owners

• Make sure the engine is properly maintained, that it does not leak oil or fuel, and that the bilge is kept clean.
• Stop water leaking into the boat, so you do not need to pump it out so often.
• Soak up any floating oil with sorbent material (newspaper, rags or paper towels can also be used) before turning on the bilge pump.
• Never mix detergent with oily bilge water. This mixture can be even more toxic than oil alone, and is very difficult to clean up.
• Always keep a piece of sorbent material underneath the engine to soak up leaks.
• If you have an automatic bilge pump, ensure there is never any floating oil in the bilges. Larger boats can use a bilge water filter that will remove most contaminants.

Key points when refuelling

• Before you start, estimate how much fuel you need in your tanks to prevent overflow.
• Plug the scuppers (and if safe to do so, protect breather outflows from spillage into the water) with rags or sorbent material.
• Keep sorbent material on the deck to mop up spills. You may wish to cut a hole in the centre of an oil absorbent pad for the fuel nozzle to go through and place it over the filler to contain blowback in the pipe.
• Make sure a responsible adult monitors the entire refuelling operation. Do not let children or untrained people refuel your boat.
• Never leave the fuel pump unattended.
• Whenever possible, refuel at an approved area using a fuel pump. Avoid transferring fuel to your boat in containers. If you must use a container, be sure to use a large funnel, and pour slowly and smoothly. Alternatively, buy a siphon hose with an integrated pump to reduce spillage.

The use of biofuels in marine engines

Two-stroke versus four-stroke engines

If you own an older two-stroke outboard, consider upgrading to a modern low emission (direct injection) two-stroke or four-stroke alternative.

Two-stroke versus four-stroke engines [PDF: 74Kb, 1 page]

Marine biosecurity and marine pests

MAF Biosecurity New Zealand is the government agency responsible for marine biosecurity. Their role includes to:

• help prevent marine pests arriving into New Zealand
• detect and take action against any new marine pest arrivals
• help manage any marine pests that do become established.

It can be difficult for the untrained eye to tell from the surface if a boat is a biosecurity risk or not. The safest rule of thumb is to ensure that your boat hull never carries more than a slime layer and ideally this is regularly brushed or wiped off. Your boat should also have a regular out-of-water clean and a liberal coating of antifouling paint. Please note that for boats used in New Zealand’s lakes and rivers different cleaning requirements apply.

Marine Biosecurity – vessel cleaning [MAF Biosecurity New Zealand]
Unwanted aquatic pests and diseases [MAF Biosecurity New Zealand]